This book brings together Steiner's philosophical, biodynamic and cultural contributions to education, where 'spirit' and ‘soul’ are the creative elements in human evolution. His thought is applied to selected examples of innovative artistic practice and pedagogy of the present. This volume is intended for researchers in the arts and education with an interest in Rudolf Steiner's huge influence on educational thought and policy.This is an urgent point in time to reflect on the role of arts in education and what it might mean for our souls. An accessible yet scholarly study of interdisciplinarity, imagination and creativity is of critical widespread interest now, when arts education in many countries is threatened with near-extinction.

By engaging with education, contemporary art and global sustainability goals, this book connects the artistic way of communication with ecological obligations and social issues and promotes a sense of active citizenship. International, empirical and curricular research presents a case for strong learning communities that take a clear political stand in favour of socially engaged art pedagogies. The main aim of is to show how shared spaces for exchange in the fields of art education and continuous professional development can reflect, inspire and integrate sustainability principles that are becoming crucial in today’s world. The authors propose the idea that coordinated action can lead to a more sustainable future by promoting a sense of community, lifelong learning and confidence in the possibility of changing current conditions. Its three parts combine expertise in visual arts education, education for sustainable development, contemporary art practice and sustainability activism. While Part I focuses on literature in the field and the interrelation of different disciplines, Part II provides concrete examples of professional learning communities and pedagogies that can be used to enrich the field of art education. Finally, Part III presents brief case studies illustrating international projects by contemporary artists, curators, environmentalists and others, providing educators with several inspirational models of concrete and creative action.

This book brings together Steiner's philosophical, biodynamic and cultural contributions to education, where 'spirit' and 'soul' are the creative elements in human evolution. His thought is applied to selected examples of innovative artistic practice and pedagogy of the present. This volume is intended for researchers in the arts and education with an interest in Rudolf Steiner's huge influence on educational thought and policy. This is an urgent point in time to reflect on the role of arts in education and what it might mean for our souls. An accessible yet scholarly study of interdisciplinarity, imagination and creativity is of critical widespread interest now, when arts education in many countries is threatened with near-extinction.

This book explicitly unites the concepts of higher education and love to examine how these concepts are mutually compatible. As the world of higher education moves towards the metrics of value, and the worth of knowledge becomes more valued in its use rather than its discovery, a crisis brews. If higher education is to contribute to the wellbeing of the self and of others, then the institution needs to be radically reviewed to see if, and how, love contributes to higher education within and beyond its walls. This book addresses the core question of what would the university might be like, today and into the future, if the timeless notion of love was the basis of its educative process, notwithstanding the material artefacts the university helps to create, but also as a way of framing approaches to higher education.

This book offers new definitions, vocabularies and insights for “scribbling”, viewing it as a fascinating and revealing process shared by many different disciplines and practices. The book provides a fresh and timely perspective on the nature of mark making and the persistence of the gestural impulse from the earliest graphic marks to the most sophisticated artistic production. The typical treatment of scribbling in the literature of artistic development has cast the practice as a prelude to representation in drawing and writing, with only occasional acknowledgment of the continuing joy and experiment of making marks across many arts practices. The continuous line the author traces between the universal practice of scribbling in infancy and early childhood and the work of radical creativity for contemporary and historical artists is original and clarifying, expanding the range of drawing behaviors to that of avant-garde painters, performance and the digital.

The book presents the multi-faceted opus of Danilo Dolci within the framework of Environmental Education, focusing on his work as a grassroots community educator, nonviolent activist and poet. It illustrates Dolci’s ‘Reciprocal Maieutic Approach’, a dialectic method of inquiry that can be defined as a process of collective exploration, taking as point of departure the experience, culture and intuition of individuals, ultimately directed towards the development of citizenship. Sessions led by Dolci in Sicily from the 1950s to the 1990s gave rise to the development of action plans that aimed to empower individuals, transform communities and, extending far beyond this, towards the planning and implementation of changes that would have a dramatic impact at a global and planetary level.

18 lectures, Stuttgart, January 1-18, 1921 (CW 323) "So you see, the most important thing to me has been to call forth within you an experience of the harmony between the human constitution and the structure of the cosmos. If you've really been following thus far, you can't possibly regard this harmony as a sin against the spirit of science" -- Rudolf Steiner (Jan. 16, 1921) What is the relationship between the human being and the world of the stars? Can we comprehend the structure and movement of celestial bodies solely through advanced mathematics, or is there in reality a point beyond which mathematical functions no longer apply? Can we, in fact, transcend the limits of three-dimensional space through our thinking? In eighteen lively lectures from the beginning of 1921, Rudolf Steiner dives deeply and courageously, though carefully, into these and other profound questions. His conclusions and indications for further research are at once fascinating, stimulating, and quite possibly revolutionary in their implications. The subject of these lectures is not astronomy, broadly considered, but the relationship of astronomy to the other fields of natural science. As he does elsewhere, Steiner maintains that the rigid specialization so prevalent in scientific endeavors will not bring us any closer to an integrated, singularly comprehensible understanding of the reality of our world. In particular, a true grasp of the workings of the universe will not be possible until its mirror, the study of human embryology, is recognized as such and penetrated with this reflective relationship in mind. Steiner once again shows himself to be both an utterly unique and masterful commentator on scientific and intellectual history, as well as a living light, shining a possible forward path for human progress and self-knowledge. This volume is a translation from German of Das Verhältnis der verschiedenen naturwissenschaftlichen Gebiete zur Astronomie: Dritter naturwissenschaftlicher Kurs: Himmelskunde in Beziehung zum Menschen und zur Menschenkunde (GA 323, 2nd ed.), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach, Switzerland, 1983.

Environmental art or ‘ecoart’ is a burgeoning field and includes a wide variety of practices, some of which are exemplified in this collection: from sculptures or installations made from discarded rubbish to intimate ephemeral artworks placed in the natural environment, or from theatrical presentations incorporated into environmental education programs to socially critical paintings. In some cases, the artworks aim to create indignation in the viewer, sometimes to educate, sometimes to create a feeling of empathy for the natural environment, or sometimes they are built into community building projects. This timely book examines various roles of the arts in building ecological sustainability. A wide range of practitioners is represented, including visual and performing artists, scientists, social researchers, environmental educators and research students. They are all united in this text in their belief that the arts are vital in the building of sustainability – in the way that they are practiced, but also the connections they make to ecology, science and indigenous culture.